Silver Linings Playbook (Blu-ray)

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All Rise...

Judge Erich Asperschlager is crazier than you.

The Charge

"One incident can change a lifetime."

Opening Statement

It's hard to talk about Silver Linings Playbook without acknowledging
that it is a personal film. One of the reasons director David O. Russell decided
to adapt Matthew Quick's novel was because of his own experience with his son,
who suffers from a similar mental illness as the main character. The film gave
Russell not only the chance to show what it's like to live with bipolar
disorder, but to give the story the kind of happy ending that doesn't exist
outside of movies. The kind of happy ending Russell would want for his own
son.

Facts of the Case

Pat (Bradley Cooper, Limitless)
has spent the last eight months in an institution getting treatment for bipolar
disorder after violent attacking his wife's lover. Although his doctors insist
he stay, Pat's mother (Jacki Weaver, Animal
Kingdom) wants to bring him home to her and his father (Robert DeNiro, Goodfellas), a superstitious
man with a fanatical devotion to the Philadelphia Eagles. Pat insists that his
exercise regime and new "silver linings" outlook have made him well
enough to resume his marriage, ignoring the fact that his wife took out a
restraining order against him. At a dinner hosted by his old pal (John Ortiz, Fast and Furious) and his wife (Julia
Stiles, Dexter), Pat meets
Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's
Bone), a widow who is equally damaged. They become friends because of their
experiences, and because they each want something in return. Pat hopes to use
Tiffany to get a message to his wife. She agrees, but only if he'll help her
achieve her dream of dancing in a local competition.

The Evidence

Silver Linings Playbook has gotten a lot of attention for its honest
depiction of mental illness—from doctors, mental health organizations, and
families who share these struggles. In that sense, it strikes a balance between
entertainment, education, and pathos that has long eluded Hollywood depictions
of mental illness. It's one of the things that makes it hard to criticize the
movie. It is a project borne not of crass commercialism or award baiting, but
from the passion and personal experiences of its director. But Silver Linings
Playbook isn't a PSA. It's a movie with great writing, direction, acting,
and third act problems that threaten to derail the whole thing.

David O. Russell's adaptation keeps most of the characters and plot from
Matthew Quick's original novel, albeit with changes that move the story out of
Pat's internal dialogue, and with a clearer focus on his illness. The screenplay
is full of Russell's sharp, revealing dialogue. Pat and Tiffany get the best
scenes, but it all works because of the care paid to the relationship between
DeNiro, Cooper, and Weaver. Theirs is a family dynamic formed by decades of
arguing, reconciling, and Sunday afternoons rooting for the Eagles. It feels
genuine even when the plot succumbs to movie logic.

A lot of well-deserved praise and award nominations have been thrown at
Silver Linings Playbook's performances. It might sound weird to call this
a comeback for Robert DeNiro, but it's a meatier role than he's tackled in
years. On the surface, he's a football nut whose superstitions are as
deleterious as his son's mental issues, but he avoids being a cartoon character
by giving Pat Sr. a depth that suggests a history of dealing with Pat's illness
in ways both helpful and harmful. Underneath everything is love for his family,
his friends, and his team. Jacki Weaver is every bit as good, communicating love
and devotion through words and quiet action. She and DeNiro are stylized
surrogates for Russell's life experience. They are fiery, flawed, and fiercely
loyal.

Jennifer Lawrence won the Best Actress Oscar for her part as Tiffany, a
strong broken woman who is trying to make the right choice for the first time
since her husband's death. Where Pat is delusional, she owns her illness.
Although she sees Pat immediately for who he is, that insight makes her own life
no less of a struggle. Bradley Cooper hasn't gotten as much attention as
Lawrence, but his performance is as impressive. He runs the emotional
gamut—depressed and ecstatic, manic and content, delusional and
lucid—all while making sure his character is not a caricature. He is not
as striking in any one way as Lawrence or DeNiro, but it adds up to someone for
the audience to empathize with and cheer on. Lawrence and Bradley Cooper's Pat
have the same issues as other romantic comedy couples, but Russell roots the ups
and downs in their shared mental instability. He deftly balances the standard
movie plot contortions with the dramatic limitations of the characters. They
become fast friends, but are kept apart for most of the movie by their own
issues. It's a clever twist on the love-hate dynamic that's used (mostly badly)
in these kinds of movies.

The great performances, sharp dialogue, and the flipping of rom-com
conventions make it all the more difficult to accept the way Silver Linings
Playbook seems to throw it all away for an ending that piles one movie
cliché on top of another. The climactic dance contest is introduced in an
organic way. It is Tiffany's personal therapy, and Pat is the one she has chosen
to help make it happen. The movie doesn't stumble until the dance
montage—an effective way of moving the plot forward that nonetheless
glosses over necessary character development. We want to see Tiffany and Pat
develop as friends. Russell wants to get us to the next plot twist, leading up
to a finale with improbable stakes and awkward revelations. The dance
competition sequence itself is wonderful, full of energy. The end result is an
exhilarating mix of unique and expected. It's more than enough to wrap up the
story. I'm not sure why Russell felt the need to add in "the bet,"
which was not in the book. It adds to the tension, but at the expense of the
characters. The ending doesn't invalidate Pat and Tiffany's mental recoveries,
but it does feel at odds to the authenticity of the film's first half.

Along with DVD, digital, and Ultraviolet copies of the film, the Blu-ray
comes with a surprisingly meaty collection of bonus features:

• Deleted Scenes (26:19): 17 scenes that were cut out of the
final film. For the most part, they are just odds and ends that don't add much,
although one scene suggests that before Pat's trigger song was "My Cherie
Amour" it was Bowie's "Let's Dance."

• "Silver Linings Playbook: The Movie that Became a
Movement" (28:35): This featurette looks at the impact the film has had in
the mental health community. In addition to interviews with the cast and
director, Dr. Oz talks about how the film "makes mental health
accessible."

• "Going Steadycam with Bradley Cooper" (0:56): An even
shorter clip of Cooper operating a steadycam for some reason.

Closing Statement

Silver Linings Playbook is clearly a passion project for David O.
Russell. He made the film in part because of his son, who appears in the film as
a nosy neighbor kid. Russell brought his experience to this adaptation of
Matthew Quick's novel, and in doing so captured the realities of living with
bipolar disorder. He also created a believable world for his two leads to
inhabit, building an unusual onscreen relationship. It's such a unique take that
it's all the more jarring that the film's second half hinges on coincidence and
contrived conflict from a more conventional film. I understand why Russell would
want to give a difficult situation a happy ending, but it comes too easily to
deliver on the promise of the story and the groundwork laid by first-class
performances. In the end, though, the good outweighs the cliché. These
characters deserve their happy ending, as do the people struggling with mental
illness for whom the film has been a message of hope.

The Verdict

A well-acted inspirational film that succeeds despite its worst rom-com
instincts. Not guilty!